Field performance of embryogenic cell suspension-derived banana plants (Musa 'AAA', cv. 'Grand Nain')
1999
Côte, François-Xavier | Folliot, Michel | Domergue, Régis | Dubois, Cécile
Growth and yield characteristics of two different clones of banana plants (Musa AAA cv. Grand Nain) originated from embryogenic cell suspensions were studied. These characteristics were compared with those plants produced by the conventional in vitro budding multiplication method. Two types of variants were observed during the acclimatization phase among 500 embryogenic cell suspension derived plants. The first type concerned banana plants with "variegated or deformed limbs", the second type concerned plants with "double limb". During the field growth, these two variant types produced plants not morphologically different from the other plants. A Fisher block model was used to compare the field performances of the two clones produced through the two in vitro propagation techniques. The analysis of variance showed that there were no significant differences between the plants produced by either micropropagation techniques for the plant height and circumference, the length of the reference limb, the number of inflorescences and fruits, the bunch weight, the period of time between planting and flowering, and between planting and harvesting. This study showed that banana plants with an agronomical behaviour similar to those produced by the conventional in vitro budding method could be regenerate from embryogenic cell suspension. Embryogenic cell suspensions can be considered as an adequate tool for genetic transformation in banana genetic improvement programs. The study also support the idea according to which somatic embryogenesis could constitute a new propagation technique for bananas. However, field experiments on a larger scale are now essential to confirm this last hypothesis
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